Sunday, December 23, 2012

Viagem à Expo is a sort of follow-up to Esta é a Minha Casa, this time following the Fundo family on a trip to Lisbon, to visit the 1998 Lisbon World Exposition (Expo '98).

After getting to know the family in their natural environment(s) — in France and Trás-os-Montes — we now get to see them in the role of "tourists". Because the subjects of the film are now, for the most part, passive (walking, watching, learning), this was never going to be as interesting as the first film was, and for that reason also, it is unsurprising to find that the best scenes are the ones in which they are "allowed" to fall back into familiar territory (a chance encounter between José and a fellow cobbler, and a devotion-filled visit to a religious giftshop).

Rodrigues still manages to keep things relatively interesting, visually, by virtue of his camera placement.